FOI/202200283095 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
A702 Culvert Location: EIR release
Information requested
"Information relating to the location of culverts on the A702 between two Latitude/Longitude points. I am concerned that flooding on the notorious Dolphinton Straight may be a result of the existing culvert configuration being inadequate for the climatic conditions. This was self evident in Oct 2021 when indeed a period of prolonged rain resulted in flood water over flowing onto the carriageway resulting in a series of motor vehicle accidents. Between the following points 55.716377N,-3.412568W along the A702 in a North easterly direction to 55.736298N,-3.376505W, I request a detailed locational map of all culverts including direction, specification and dimensions."
Response
As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request. Please see Annex A to this response for a plan showing the location of the culverts on the section of the A702 you are interested in. There are 6 culverts in the section required and all are 0.5m diameter with the exception of 1 just to the north of Medwyn Cottage which is a 1m diameter. All culverts are concrete and generally flow from a NW to SE direction (coming from the Pentland hills across the A702). About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.